Earring



A. HERMAN Dec. 28, 1948.

EARRING File d June e, 1946 iNVENTOR HR TH UR H MH BY l ORNEY provide an piece of fabric as its primary m'ent so that thewearer may facture' and rugged obvious and in part Patented Dec. 28, 1948 "UNI T ED PAT ENT F F 1 CE EARRING Arthur Herman, Brooklyn, N. Y. Application June 6, 1946, Serial'No. 674,800

10 Claims. 1 This invention'relates .to "earrings. It is the' principalbbject of my invention to earring which: replaceably carries a ornamental "elehave the earring fabric match thefabric' other dress.

it isan ancillary object of 'my invention .to provide an earringcomprising relatively few and simple parts and which is economical to manuin use.

Other objects of my invention will inpart-be hereinafter pointed out.

My invention accordingly consists in the features of construction,combinations of elements and arrangement of'pa-rts which will be exemplifled in 'theearring hereinafter described and of which the-scope 'ofapplication will be indicated in the appended claims.

In the accompanying drawings in which is shown one of the various possible embodiments of my invention Fig. l is a front plan view of an earring constructed in accordance *with my-inven'tion;

Fig. 2 is a sectional view taken substantially along the line 2-2-of Fig. 1, and

Fig. 3 is aperspective'view showing'the'manner in which a piece-of fabric is trimmed after being insertedin the earring.

In general, I carry out my invention by'providing an earring including, in addition to suitable means to attach the earring to an ear, a member, e. g. a ring, having a through aperture of any desired shapef and a 'domedelement supported substantially centrally of the aperture; with the high point of: saideiementilying to one side of the member and the base of said element lying on the other side of and close to the aperture, there being a slightand approximately uniform: clearance between saidaperture and said element adiacent its base, so that a piece of fabric draped over said element is caught between the apertured member and base of the element. Optionally. the domed element and apertured member may be interconnected by resilient means in order to pinch the fabric between said element and ring and thereby more securely hold the fabric in place.

Referring now to the drawings, in denotes an earring constructed in accordance with my invention and comprising an apertured member I2 and domed element 14. Although the various parts could be forged or cast, for convenience of manufacture, the member, domed element and interconnecting means may be made from a single piece of flat stock blanked, shaped, drawn and 'lstance,

Likewise'fthe-outer periphery of the member may higher than its base,

tratedsin Figs. land 2. The'member Zwdesirably is'inthe :shape of a' ring of half-round cross secti'on, although'it will be understood that any other configuration which presents an attractive, ornamental appearance 'wll serve aswell. *"Thus the member may be flat or of box-'shapedbross section, with its rearside open. The central through aperture l6 of the member may be of any-desired contour. The contour-illustrated is circulanbut it is withinthe scopeof my invention'to have the said aperture assume any other shape as,-for inoval, polygonal, stellate or lunulate.

have any outline and said member maybe ornamented in any desired fashion.

' The element I4 has a base of approximately the sameconfiguration as the central aperture 16 in the member 12. As best seen in Fig. 2; said element is domed, that is, its inner portion is there preferably being a smooth curvature connecting the high point of said ,element'to said base. Although this curvature .is shown as being entirely convex on'the face of the element, it will be understood that such curvature .may be concave in parts.

The base of the domed element will, in general, be slightly smaller than the central aperture l6, particularly if the inclination of said element adjacent its base is rather steep, as is the case with the element shown in Fig. 2 This relative dimensioning of the aperture and base of the element is .made necessary by the governing consideration' thatduring use there must be a slight clearance between the aperture and theba'se of the domedelement. It is pointed out, nevertheless, that if the element is not very steeply sloped adjacentits base, 'it is possible for the'ba'se. of "theelemehtto be as large aspreVen slightly larger than the aperture l6.

It should also be mentioned that, if desired, the domed element may have a flange extending from its base. This flange may either be continuous or, as illustrated herein, may cover only a small part of the periphery of the element, in which case the flange simply comprises a, tab l8.

The member and element are interconnected in any suitable fashion, as for example, by a U -shaped shank 20 in one piece with the element and member. Said shank includes a portion extending rearwardly from the external periphery of the member, another portion extending rearwardly from the base of the element and a le interconnecting said two portions. Optionally, the material from which the member and element means, may be are formed may be of resilient stock, e. g., Phosphor bronze or brass, and in such event the earring is so fashioned that the shank 20 normally biases the domed element to a position wherein its base is further forward with regard to the member than it would be if a piece of fabric were draped over the element. As already noted, this insures a better grip on the fabric.

Some suitable means is incorporated to attach the earring to a wearers ear. Such means, as shown herein, consists of a conventional ear wire 22, which comprises a U-shaped wire frame, one of whose legs is tapped to receive a threaded pin 24 having a knurled manipulating knob 20 at one end and a pressure pad 28 on its otherend. The other leg of the frame is secured, e. g., by

welding, to a bridging strip 30 spanning the base of the domed element at its rear. r

If desired, said bridging strip, like the other elements of the earring, exclusive of the attaching ring. With such an arrangement, one end of the bridging strip is integral with and extends from the rear edge of the domed element and the other end of the bridging strip is secured as, for instance, by welding to the base of the domed element at a diametrically opposite point. A piece of fabric is secured to the earring as follows: An edge of the shank 20, thus further aiding to hold the fabric in position. 7

After the fabric has been arranged in the foregoing manner, the portions thereof which extend space defined by the aperture Hi.

It will thus be seen that I have provided an earseveral objects of my invention and is Well adapted to meet the conring which achieves the ditions of practical use. i

As various possible embodiments might bemade of the above invention and as various formed in one piece with the ear' changes might be made in the embodiment above de' scribed, it is to be understood that all matter herein set forth or shown in the accompanying drawings is to be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense.

Having thus described my invention, I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent:

1. An earring comprising a member having a through aperture, a domed element, the base whereof is of approximately the same configuration as the aperture in said member, said element being supported by the member substantially centrally of ,said aperture, with a slight clearance between said aperture and said element adjacent its base, so that when a piece of fabric is draped over said element, said fabric will be caught between the base of said element and said aperture,

said element being supported independently of thef abric, and means to attach the earring to a wearers ear.

2. An earring as set forth in claim 1, wherein said member is of ring-like configuration.

3. An earring as set forth in claim 1, wherein the high point of the domed element is disposed on one side of the apertured member and the base of the domed element is disposed on the other side of the apertured member, when a piece of fabric is draped over said element.

4. An earring as set forth in claim 1, wherein resilient means is provided to support the domed element.

5. An earring as set forth in claim 1, wherein the apertured member and domed element are made from a single piece of stock.

6. An earring as set forth in claim 1, wherein the domed element is made of sheet metal.

'7. An earring as set forth in claim 1, wherein the domed element and apertured member are made from sheet metal.

8. An earring as set forth in claim 1, wherein the domed element is hollow and has an open rear end.

9. An earring as set forth in claim 1, wherein the base of the domed element is no larger than the aperture in the apertured member.

10. An earring as set forth in claim 1, wherein a tab extends outwardly from the base of the domed element to aid in guiding fabric into place over said element.

. ARTHUR HERMAN.

REFERENCES CITED Number Name 1,267,067 Flagg 1,440,801 Kuckelsberg, et al.

record in the Date May 21, 1918 Feb. 27, 1923 

